The head coach and general manager of the Edmonton Rush had been trying to land forward Ben Prepchuk from the very beginning.

Yesterday he was able to swing a deal with the Colorado Mammoth for the Sherwood Park product.

"We're very pleased to finally be able to get him," said Day.

"He's a player that we wanted right from Day 1. He's a strong player that is able to drive the net really well from the right side and that's something that we need."

Prepchuk, 28, is a six-year National Lacrosse League veteran. He's played 84 career games, scoring 120 goals and adding 121 assists.

Last season the Radford University graduate had 15 goals and 16 assists in 13 games for the Mammoth.

The Rush sent a second-round pick in the upcoming NLL Entry Draft to the Mammoth for Prepchuk's rights.

"We have to give a lot of credit to the Mammoth's general manager for making this possible," Day said. "With the upcoming expansion draft they could only protect a certain number of guys and they felt it was time to send Ben home."

Prepchuk began his career with the now defunct New York Saints after being selected third overall in the 2000 NLL Entry Draft. He then spent a season in Calgary before moving on to play the last four with the Mammoth.

"He didn't get as much of an opportunity with Colorado with all the depth they had there," Day said. "We plan on using him a lot. He'll play a lot of minutes for us and he'll be very valuable on the power play."

Today the league is expected to find out if Vancouver will join Boston as an expansion franchise for next season.

At the end of the month the league will hold an expansion draft forcing teams to protect 14 players.

Prepchuk will be one of the 14 players the Rush will protect.

"We expect he's going to put up some good numbers for us," Day said. "He's going to get opportunities that he didn't get in Colorado. He's already has good chemistry with Dan Stroup and Chris Gill from their days in Colorado."